Watching the Clock
by katastrophic88
Summary: When Ryo is killed during a police raid gone wrong, Dee fears a life without his partner and his lover. However, Ryo made a promise to Dee in his final moments and no matter what it takes, Ryo will be united with his soulmate again.


**_A/N: These characters do not belong to me. Part of my A-Z fanfiction challenge. This fanfiction is titled from the song "Atlantic" by Keane. Enjoy!_**

**Lonely Angels**

"I got you covered," Ryo said as he offered Dee an encouraging smile.

"I know." The NYPD Detective replied, tempted to kiss his partner despite the gravity of the current situation. "I have the best partner in the world, in more ways than one." He pressed his back against the wall and held up his gun, waiting for the signal to storm into the hostage's room.

It was a typical situation with Dee and Ryo on the ground with the SWAT team waiting on Chief's signal to JJ; and the sniper's successive gunshot cue. The team was in position on either side of the door and had blocked all building exits in the dilapidated hotel, the current hiding spot of a way-ward drug pusher trying to save his ass from the police and his former kingpin bosses. The boys in blue got to him first.

Dee gave the waiting team his okay when the sound of a bullet cutting through window glass and finding its intended, fleshy target produced a shrill yell from the man it hit. He waited for the SWAT team to break down the door before running into the room, gun drawn and trained on the perp. Soon after, the wounded drug dealer was secured and the hostage was set free. The young detective put away his gun and turned to his partner.

"Well, that was easy enough. Barely worth getting out of bed and dressed for!" Dee said as he looked around, a wide grin on his face. The man saw the hostage sobbing in Ted's arms before he turned back to Ryo's arched eyebrow. "Okay, maybe it was."

Ryo patted his lover on the back and checked with the leader of the team before gesturing to Dee it was clear to leave.

"Come on, let's get out of here. I'm-," The blonde's stomach grumbled loudly and the pair stared at it until it stopped its request for immediate attention. "As you can hear, I'm starving." Dee laughed and kissed Ryo softly, his green eyes full of adoration for the man standing beside him.

"Well as long as you have an appetite for me later, I think we can get that taken care of." Dee whispered in Ryo's ear, his arm around the man's waist as they walked down the hall. The older detective blushed in response.

The pair whirled around as a door behind them flew open, a woman in a devil's mask emerged with an automatic rifle pointed towards them.

"You take my Stan, I take you! Go to hell!" She yelled as she began firing. Ryo threw himself and Dee to the floor and drew his gun, quickly shooting the woman in both shoulders. Reflexively, her finger engaged the trigger as the gun sagged in her weakened arms, a few rounds peppering the hallway at random. Ryo covered Dee's body with his, covering their heads with his arms.

Officers quickly gained control of the woman as Stan cackled in the room, handcuffed and bleeding from a similar shot through the shoulder.

"I see you bastards met my wife! She's quite a firecracker—," His words were cut off as someone sensibly hit him unconscious.

"All clear!" An officer called, walking over to the still huddled detectives. Dee blinked his eyes open, his nose filled with the smell of gunpowder and Ryo's cologne. "You guys alright?" The young detective felt something warm and wet drip onto the back of his neck. Alarmed he lifted himself up gently, Ryo rolled off of him onto his back, eyes open and mouth gaping for air, a trickle of blood resting in the corner of his lip.

"Ryo! Someone get a paramedic here immediately!" Dee pulled Ryo's hands away from a crimson wound on his side, heart dropping into his belly at the whistling sound produced by Ryo drawing breath from a hole in his lung. He pressed his scarf against the wound, helping his lover to breathe.

"D-Dee…"

"Don't talk baby, it will only make it worse. There was an ambulance right outside before the mission, remember? Help will be here really soon, love." The room around them was a buzz of activity that went by unnoticed to both men. "Just hang in there." Ryo's body twitched as he took a laborious breath, wincing at the pressure Dee was placing on the bullet hole. Dee bit his lip at the pain he was causing, but knew that Ryo realized it was necessary.

"Over here! Come quickly!" Drake shouted in the background.

Dee stroked the side of his lover's face and leaned down to kiss his forehead, holding tears at bay.

"I love you Dee," Ryo ground out, teeth clenched against the pain. He shook his head as Dee tried to shush him. "I'll find a way to you..."

"Ryo, what are you talking about?"

"_You_ hang in there, love." Ryo said with a weak smile. Dee shook his head in confusion as Drake and a paramedic snatched him away from Ryo, turning his head away from his partner and asking him a torrent of questions.

"Detective Laytner, can you hear me? Do you understand what I'm saying?" Dee twisted away from the paramedic and Drake, fury in his green eyes.

"Yes but I'm fine! Ryo! Help Ryo damnit!" The paramedics tore open his shirt and began applying bandages to a large wound in Dee's stomach, forcing the man to lie down on a stretcher. The man turned to look at his lover and saw the blonde-haired detective still lying on the floor in a pool of blood, his eyes open and hand outstretched in his direction. "He's dying! Help him! Dear God, please help him!" Ted walked over to Ryo and knelt by him, drawing his eyelids closed as he shook his head sadly. Dee watched as the paramedics strapped his own body to a stretcher and lifted him up to be carried away.

Dee's heartbroken yell rang through the air as he twisted against his bonds, cursing and crying oblivious to the pain. "Why wouldn't you help him? You killed him!" Drake who was walking by Dee's side the man's hand in his, squeezing it until he got Dee's attention.

"Dee…Ryo was already dead by the time we came out into the hall." Dee moaned and closed his eyes as he fought a wave of nausea crashing into his body. Tears streaming down his cheeks although there were no sobs. "I'm so sorry."

In the hallway up the stairs as Dee was carried out of the building, Ryo watched as his body was placed in a body bag. Companions and friends stood silently around his plastic shroud, in shock and deep in sadness. With a loud yell that could have ruptured the heavens, Ryo's spirit called out in agony for a life lost. As his physical body was carried away, his spirit form turned to the wall closest to him and cried.

* * *

><p><strong><em>After a long, writing hiatus, I have returned. Feedback and encouragement is always greatly appreciated. Depending on reader response, I will continue this fanfiction (Don't worry, it won't be so depressing in later chapters)<em>**

**'_Til next time…_**


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